Venice Head Alberto Barbera Defends Selection Of Russian Director Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s ‘DAU’: “It Is Not Pro-Putin Propaganda”

Following weeks of criticism from activists and Ukrainian officials, Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera defended his selection of Russian filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s feature DAU in a lengthy Instagram message posted on Wednesday.  Beginning by describing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “bloody and cruel”, Barbera said that critics of Venice and its inclusion of DAU…